This book draws on scholarly expertise across the former Soviet Union to provide a comparative analysis of the policies and practices that are discussed within the context of global reform of teacher education.
Divided into three parts, chapters of this book discuss the context behind economic and political reform across the former Soviet Union, and the resulting change that has occurred within teacher education systems within the 15 republics that now exist in this ‘post- Soviet space’. Offering a complex and nuanced account of ‘vernacular globalisation’, the book discusses the significant contribution that teacher education can make to the process of nationbuilding. In doing so, this truly international volume offers fresh insights and original perspectives on this dynamic educational landscape.
Being the first comprehensive account of reforms in all 15 nations that emerged in the post- Soviet world, this book will be of interest to students, scholars, and academics in the fields of teacher education, international, and comparative education, and education policy and politics. It should also be of relevance to teacher educators and policymakers around the world more broadly.
Table of Contents:
Part 1 Setting the scene
1. Political and economic reform in the post-Soviet space
2. Educational reform in the post-Soviet space
Part 2 The fifteen cases
3. Pedagogical education in Armenia in the post-Soviet period
4. The case of Azerbaijan
5. Teacher training in the Republic of Belarus
6. Estonian teacher education: reforms and innovation
7. Teacher education policies in Georgia
8. Teacher education in Kazakhstan: past, present and future
9. The case of the Kyrgyz Republic
10. Transformations in teacher education practices since the restoration of independence to the Republic of Latvia
11. Teacher education in Lithuania: striving for the prestige of the teaching profession or for a stronger agency?
12. The reform of teacher education in the Republic of Moldova
13. The modernisation of teacher education in Russia
14. In-service teacher education in Tajikistan: continuities, changes, and challenges
15. Transforming education in challenging environments: teacher education and internationalising higher education in Turkmenistan
16. Teacher education in Ukraine: experience in overcoming centripetal tendencies
17. Continuity of teacher education in Uzbekistan
Part 3 A comparative view
18. Similarities and differences, continuities and changes
19. Conclusion: where next?
About the Author :
Ian Menter is Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education, University of Oxford, UK.
Review :
"The Reform of Teacher Education in the Post-Soviet Space is an important and timely book. Charting the development of teacher education in fifteen post-Soviet countries, it shines a much-needed analytical light on an often under-researched aspect of our education ecosystem. The national accounts highlight both similarities and points of departure in how national education systems are products of historical, social, cultural and political developments, and reveals how teacher education is the bedrock of educational change and resistance to change. Moreover, the book furthers our understanding of vernacular globalisation, highlighting developmental trajectories taken in each of the fifteen countries, and how they have been influenced by international trends and local drivers. In doing so, the book foregrounds how important it is to understand the crucial activity of teacher education in all parts of the world."
Clare Brooks, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK.
"This book makes a compelling case of how teacher education evolved in the post-Soviet period in fifteen nations. It presents a comprehensive overview of the process of change and its influencing factors, a process that has been marked by complexity and diversity. The Reform of Teacher Education in the Post-Soviet Space: A Comparative Analysis of Fifteen Independent Countries shows the key importance of teacher education but also how international understandings of policy and practice as well as national priorities (re)shape the developments in this domain. Both convergences and divergences explain how the fifteen countries dealt with the Soviet legacy and how positive and negative elements have affected different relationships across the nations. A valuable contribution to the field and a must read book for all those who are interested in better understanding teacher education internationally."
Maria Assunção Flores, University of Minho, Portugal.
"The Reform of Teacher Education in the Post-Soviet Space is an important and timely book. Charting the development of teacher education in fifteen post-Soviet countries, it shines a much-needed analytical light on an often under-researched aspect of our education ecosystem. The national accounts highlight both similarities and points of departure in how national education systems are products of historical, social, cultural and political developments, and reveals how teacher education is the bedrock of educational change and resistance to change. Moreover, the book furthers our understanding of vernacular globalisation, highlighting developmental trajectories taken in each of the fifteen countries, and how they have been influenced by international trends and local drivers. In doing so, the book foregrounds how important it is to understand the crucial activity of teacher education in all parts of the world."
Clare Brooks, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK
"This book makes a compelling case of how teacher education evolved in the post-Soviet period in fifteen nations. It presents a comprehensive overview of the process of change and its influencing factors, a process that has been marked by complexity and diversity. The Reform of Teacher Education in the Post-Soviet Space: A Comparative Analysis of Fifteen Independent Countries shows the key importance of teacher education but also how international understandings of policy and practice as well as national priorities (re)shape the developments in this domain. Both convergences and divergences explain how the fifteen countries dealt with the Soviet legacy and how positive and negative elements have affected different relationships across the nations. A valuable contribution to the field and a must read book for all those who are interested in better understanding teacher education internationally."
Maria Assunção Flores, University of Minho, Portugal
